Wireless technologies have become an integral part of communications used by individuals. Traditional cellular networks have evolved to provide both voice and data services to users. In addition, networks such as wireless LANs (e.g., 802.11) and WiMAX (e.g., 802.16e) networks have emerged to provide wireless connectivity to data networks such as the internet. Because of the increased availability of multiple types of wireless networks, user devices have been developed to work on multiple types of wireless networks.
These user devices supporting multiple networks typically do not operate on two different networks simultaneously. As a result, the device is required to select a network for communications. Cellular networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, LTE networks) typically have larger coverage areas than wireless data networks (e.g., 820.11). Therefore, in some areas, a user may only be able to access and utilize voice and data services through a cellular network. However, when a user enters an area covered by a cellular network and a wireless data network (e.g., 802.11), the device must select a network for communications. For certain types of traffic such as data it may be beneficial to hand over the communication from a cellular network to the data network.
The embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.